Let Loose in the Hoose

The little guy has been getting pretty sick and tired of playing in our family room so I decided to let him roam around in the kitchen and living room today. You would have thought it was Christmas by how ecstatic he was. His eyes were full of complete amazement as he gazed at everything in this brand new world that had been opened to him. He ran around and around and around and around the kitchen until I thought he would pass out from exhaustion but no, he was far from being done yet. He then crawled down the step into the living room and loudly smacked his hands on the coffee table while checking out the many wonders of the room. He then alternated between smacking the table, running up to the kitchen again, dragging around the kitchen rug, using Zeus as a footstool, and trying to open both our front and back doors. This went on for about 45 minutes. He was literally in 7th heaven being able to explore this whole area that had been off limits to him before today.
We still have some babyproofing to do in these rooms, but he was surprisingly good about not touching certain things when I told him no, which was a complete shocker to me because I was under the impression that the word "no" in Dawson's mind meant "Keep on doing whatever naughty thing you're doing. Oh, and laugh about it while you're at it because that makes it all right."
Maybe he's really starting to understand what "no" means after all. Or maybe he's smart enough to know that his newfound freedom will be taken from him if he abuses it. Or maybe it's a little bit of both...